Hijri era

Definition

The Hijri era is calculated according to the Islamic lunar calendar, whose epoch (first year) is the year of Muhammad's Hijrah, and begins on the first day of the month of Muharram (equivalent to the Julian calendar date of July 16, 622 CE).

The date of the Hijrah itself did not form the Islamic New Year. Instead, the system continues the earlier ordering of the months, with the Hijrah occurring around the 8th day of Rabi al-Awwal, 66 days into the first year.

Shia view

Unlike Sunnis, Twelver Shias start the Hijri year with the month of the Hijra, Rabi' al-Awwal, rejecting that Muharram is the start of a new year. As a result of this, the dates of some events are described differently by one year. For example, Shias state that the Muharram-transpiring battle of Karbala occurred 60 years after the Hijra, while Sunnis state it to have occurred 61 years after.

In Shia Islam, the calendar year is entirely determined by solar observation or calculation. Each year begins on the northward equinox.

History

Predecessors

By the age of Muhammad, there was already an Arabian lunar calendar, with named months. Likewise, the years of its calendar used conventional names rather than numbers: The first year of the Hijra (622–23 CE) was named the "Permission to Travel" in this calendar.

Establishment

17 years after the Hijra, a complaint from Abu Musa Ashaari prompted the caliph Umar to abolish the practice of named years and to establish a new calendar era. Umar chose as epoch for the new Muslim calendar the hijrah, the emigration of Muhammad and 70 Muslims from Mecca to Medina. Tradition credits Othman with the successful proposal, simply continuing the order of the months that had already been established by Muhammad, beginning with Muharram, as there was no set order of months during the pre-Islamic era (Age of Ignorance – Jahiliya). Adoption of this calendar was then enforced by Umar.

Formula

Different approximate conversion formulas between the Gregorian (AD or CE) and the Islamic lunar calendars (AH) are possible:

AH = 1.030684 × (CE − 621.5643) CE = 0.970229 × AH + 621.5643 or AH = (CE − 622) × CE = AH × + 622

Given that the (lunar) Islamic New Year does not begin January 1 and that a linar Hijri calendar year is about 11 days shorter than a Gregorian calendar year, there is no direct correspondence between years of the two eras. A given Hijri year will usually fall in two successive Gregorian years. A CE year will always overlap two or occasionally three successive Hijri years. For example, the year 2008 CE maps to the last week of AH 1428, all of 1429, and the first few days of 1430. Similarly, the year 1976 CE corresponded with the last few days of AH 1395, all of 1396, and the first week of 1397.

The solar Hijri calendar year is almost exactly the same length as a Gregorian calendar year and, although it always begins at the March equinox, date conversion between the systems is trivial.

Notes

References

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